My Courses

For nearly a quarter century, the Chicago Palestine Film Festival has showcased film gems by or about Palestinians. One of the largest global populations of Palestinians lives in Chicago, concentrating in southwest suburban Bridgeview, also known as “Little Palestine.” After a narrow vote, Chicago became the largest American city calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.…

Andy Kaufman doesn’t want you to watch his biopic. At the start of “Man on the Moon,” Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey) appears on screen, addressing us directly, using the squiggly voice he’d wield on stage and on “Taxi.” “I would like to thank you for coming to my movie,” he says before admitting, “I…

Minhal Baig’s “We Grown Now” is a film masterfully tied to the emotive potential of place. A period piece centered in Cabrini-Green in the early ’90s, the film is as Chicago born and bred as the characters it loves throughout its runtime. Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) are two young boys,…

Will there ever be a version of “Rebel Moon—Part 2: The Scargiver” that makes the movie and its franchise seem essential? Director and co-writer Zack Snyder has already tried to whip up his fanbase by teasing “R-rated” versions of the first two entries in his ongoing “Star Wars” ripoff cycle, a lifeless homage to that…

Set in 1992 in the northernmost United States, where criminals run drugs and guns over the border with Canada, “Blood for Dust” is a hard, nasty crime thriller about hard, nasty men. Directed by Rod Blackhurst from a script by David Ebeltoft, it tells you what kind of movie it is from its gruesome opening image and…